


Needle in an eye for the world to go blind

by ARoyalJoker



Category: The Property of Hate
Genre: and boy does he get bothered, shouldn't bother anyone except TOby, stitching but hey he's a doll, though that could just be because of Dial, tinker and cell mentioned in passing, wizard of oz mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:20:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22411651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ARoyalJoker/pseuds/ARoyalJoker
Summary: It isn't easy, being a doll. Well, okay. You can't really do anything, thus there's not really a lot of hardships. Besides the little thing of not being able to move on your own. So, no pushing against the wind. No sitting up. And no fending off wayward creatures that got mad and decided to take a stab at you. But the worst part?The worst part was the inability to get away from annoying microphones that wouldn't stop talking.
Kudos: 20





	Needle in an eye for the world to go blind

"Weee-eell. Would you look'it that? I think this is a first even for you to manage, dollface."

"Go away."

"Aw come on now. Why don't you tell me what happened?" 

"I would prefer to do literally anything else." TOby doesn't protest when the other grips him by the shoulders to sit him up. He strains his eyes as he tries to look at the microphone next to him as Dial lifts his arm to look at the long tear that was on his left side. "Do you mind?"

"Sure looks nasty. Betcha could keep the PG rating with nothing but this stuffing though." 

"I don't care."

Dial's poking and prodding near the tear experimentally, and TOby's eyes fell to watch his hand. Just because he couldn't feel it didn't mean it wasn't weird. He didn't voice any relief he felt that Dial didn't fiddle with the fraying edges of where the fabric had been cut apart.

"What trouble you get up on this bookshelf to cause this?"

"None of your business." He doesn't want to admit that it was a whirlwind of a tiny Envy. He wasn't even sure where it had come from, or who the jealousy that fueled it was aimed at. Surely it wasn't himself, with the lot he had in life. The thing had gotten a good slash in with its razor-sharp plumage before TOby had managed to startle it of its rage with his yelling. Of course, that was when it decided he wasn't worth it and left, tipping him forwards to add insult to injury. 

And now he was being picked up. Dial has him under the arms, held up carefully. Not thinking about what all the damn swinging will make fall out of his torso.

"Well, I don't think it'll cost ya none to get that little bit patched up. Little spool of thread and a needle and you'll be right as rain I suspect. Ol' Miss Cell does wonders I tell you-"

"Dial."

"-And I'm sure Tinker will be thrilled t' see ya around. Even if it's only for a bit-"

"Dial."

"-It IS a bit of a hike, and you shouldn't be away from your post for too long, but for something like this is excusable surely-"

"Dial- Shut up and Put. Me. Down."

That finally seems to get the biggers attention. They just stare at each other for a moment, before the microphone sets the doll down, plopping into a sitting position next to him.

"Fair enough. Still gotta wait for the ferry. Honestly, I thought he had a much stricter schedule, but hey, we should make good time-"

"Dial, I want to be perfectly clear- You. are. not. Taking. Me. anywhere." 

They're pushed into silence once again. And for once TOby allows himself to think the impossible. That Dial has both shut up and won't press the issue. Wishful thinking, but one could hope.

"Well, I don't think they'll make house calls all the way out here."

"Good."

"Well, I mean, if you just wanna go for that look. Fine. But you'll be regretting it when the rain comes and gets all up and ruins your insides. Heck, it may just wash right out. And wouldn't that be a look? You definitely wouldn't be able to sit up then."

TOby's eyes just slide so he can look at Dial, rambling on about this and that. It was super annoying. Couldn't the idiot just leave him alone? Instead of just talking and talking and jabbering like an idiot? He had to know TOby wasn't even paying attention to a word he said. The doll's gaze slides back to the Abyss out in front of him.

"I don't trust anyone with those things."

He isn't sure what makes him say it. But Dials quiet again. Finally, shut up, and stare at the doll. TOby is very pointedly not looking at him.

"Even if I did trust someone, which I don't, I'm not gonna let them try that. Not in this life-time. So do yourself a favor, shut up and for fuck's sake just go away." TOby grits out. Very pointedly staring in front of him. Ignoring and sounds of shifting or movement out of the corner of his eye. He doesn't think of himself as someone who lies to himself often. But surely he can allow it to say he doesn't hear any emotion in his voice beside his annoyance and anger.

It's nearly ten minutes when Toby realizes this is the quietest he has ever heard Dial. And that's when he gets suspicious. So, ready for the inevitable break in peace that he got, and looks to his side.

He hadn't even realized Dial had left without saying anything more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's two weeks before he gets any more company other than the ferryman. There hadn't been any rain, and TOby was thankful because he didn't want to find out how that would affect him and his current situation. But it had been rather windy. Small tufts of his inner fluff kept getting carried away, and all he could do was watch.

It's evening when he hears footsteps, coming down from the lake of tears. He wasn't sure what idiot would be out this late at night. TOby rolled his eyes.

"Hey, idiot. The ferry isn't running. Come back tomorrow like a regular person." TOby yelled out. The footsteps didn't get quieter or farther away, but instead picked up their pace and got louder, closer. Before the person puts his hands in front of TOby's eyes, and the doll has to groan.

"Guess who!"

"The grim reaper finally come to put me out of my misery in this hell?"

"Nope! But close! Its Dial."

"Yeah. No shit. What do you want?"

"Welllll…" The microphone plops down hard next to TOby, a lot closer than the doll would have liked. Then does the really unexpected thing and pulls him into his lap. "Well, honestly I was around the neighborhood again and I thought I'd just stop by."

"We both know you're never just in the neighborhood, and that you never want to just stop by. Is it something to do with H-"

"No! No no. Nothing like that. Honestly, ya think I'd be criminal for wanting to come out here with the suspicion I get. You've got a great view up here! Plus plenty to read." At some point, Dial had started playing with TOby's limp arm. Well. Just kinda making it flop every which way. Waving it. If TOby could shake his head he would.

"Ah yes. The biggest expanse of nothing, one of the greatest things to View day in and day out. And the books get riveting by the millionth time you've read them."

Dial just snorts at his words. He's settled down the arm he was moving around out of the way and was prodding at the ripped open wound. He seemed to be pressing some of the escaped stuffing back from whence it came.

"...Does it hurt?" The muttered question throws TOby for a loop. 

"...You know I can't feel any of this."

"Good." Before the doll can question what has gotten into Dial, his world is turned on its side as he's laid on his. His head is tilted down facing the ground partially, so it was hard to see what the other was doing. He had to strain his eyes just to get a glimpse of movement. He can sort of see the other's fingers as they work at the slash in his side.

"Sit me back up right now." He couldn't feel what was going on. Which made it all the more disorienting as he strained just to see what the other was doing.

Dial reaches into his pocket and pulls some sort of item out. He rests his elbows on TOby as he leans forward to fiddle with it. And because of that, he doesn't have to strain quite as much. But it was tiny, but he can sort of make it out. A small flash of silver metal, not the brass of Dial, and way too small. And a small cylinder of something. It was hard to make out- But he knew that color. He has looked down at his own shirt enough to know it. A sinking feeling grew in his chest.

A needle and thread.

"Dial, put that away. Dial put. That. Away." TOby's voice is wavering as he puts his anger into emphasis behind it. The object head just ignores him, focusing on threading the needle. The amount of tries it takes doesn't instill any confidence in TOby.

"It took me a bit longer to get the hang of then I planned, you know. I ain't much of a mender, and apparently patchin' up a hold in your sleeve and fixin' up a doll are a lot more different than ya think. It's a good thing you don't squirm-"

"Dial you know what I said about this-"

"You don't trust anyone to do this, sure sure. Whatever you say Dollface. But ya still got your guts falling out, so it's better to have a novice job done then no job at all. And I ain't that terrible at this either."

TOby can't do anything as he's forced to watch the needle being forced into him. He can't feel it. Of course, he can't. He hasn't felt anything in a long time-

But he can still feel it. The memory of it. The pieces of him getting painstakingly sewn back together, the sheer agony before it all went numb. Before everything went numb. Before what happened to him became what he is. It's all he can do to watch as it unfolds again in his mind, as he can hear-

…..

As he can hear Dial talking. He thinks it's about the words on the book. Something about flying monkeys. They can't be as scary as the story makes them out to be. It's ridiculous, it's tone-deaf, it's idiotic, and it's so ridiculously Dial that it helps mask and beat down the terror TOby is refusing to acknowledge.

"You're a fucking idiot." 

"I'm the idiot? These monkeys had this witch outnumbered three hundred to one and still stayed in her service. Talk about not utilizing your resources-"

"I hate you."

"I know." That's why I'm doing this. It isn't verbal, but it's understood. It's easier to have someone who's going to annoy him to distraction than someone who would try to make him feel better or pitied. And TOby thought, in his own complicated way Dial understood that.

It's easiest to just let the nonsense Dial spouts just let it run its course as he looks towards the abyss. The methodic motion of Dial's hand as it stitches him back together is just a constant reminder of what he remembers, but it's easier to have something to focus on. And the inane rambling Dial engages him is enough to numb his mind enough like the rest of him.

It gets darker, as they stay like this. No sunset or stars is coming out to watch. Just the light of the world progressively dimming until it was gone. They were in the middle of this, but Dial didn't seem to struggle with seeing, he didn't comment on it at least. But the time does pass. If very, very, very slowly.

"And a Lil' snip here, and… Done!" TOby's jerked back into the present as he's brought right side up, one of Dial's hands on his shoulder while the other lifts up his arm. His head knocked forward so he can see the stitches in his side. They're not totally even, and they curve awkwardly where Dial followed the angle of the cut. They're a far cry of the uniform stitching of the rest of him, but… The thread blends in enough it's not too obvious. 

Dial stands and sets TOby down. Propping him up carefully, in his usual position on the shelf. There was no wind to knock him over tonight, and Dial tucks his hands into his pockets.

"Good as new. Probably even better than new, you don't get patented Dial handiwork from just anywhere-"

"...Dial?"

"Yeah doll?"

"Shut up."

"Heh." The microphone shrugs. "Can't say I never tried. You're welcome."

"Don't mention it. Like, I mean it. Don't mention this to anybody."

"We'll see about that."


End file.
